Find the Right Online Training to Boost Your Career
Employees once had few options for sharpening their skills aside from finding a mentor on the job or earning a traditional degree. Today, with the world of online credentials expanding, professionals have a variety of ways they can acquire knowledge and demonstrate their skills.
Aside from earning an online degree, employees can sign up for certificate programs, take massive open online courses and earn digital badges, among other options.
Long ago, employees would finish their education after their college degree, but that's not good enough anymore, says Rich Thompson, chief human resources officer at Adecco Group North America, a staffing company. "You have to continue to sharpen your skills," he says. "The nice thing about these credentials is that they are affordable and there are so many of them. The trick is, you have to find the right ones."
Before signing up for an online credential, employees should consider what they want to achieve, experts say. A certificate from a university might be more appropriate than a MOOC, for example, depending on the kind of skill and knowledge desired.
[Learn whether online learning is right for you.]
The first step for those who want to move up in their workplace is to have a frank discussion with their supervisor about what kind of credentials can enhance their professional development plan, says Barbara Endel, program director for Jobs for the Future, a nonprofit dedicated to helping people succeed in the economy.
"Ask, 'What do you need to demonstrate with your skills?'" she says. "If you can get more definition from your conversations, then I think you can figure out the venue."
Those who want to advance outside of their company should ensure they are pursuing credentials that are relevant to the new position, Thompson says.
"As a hiring manager, I'll come across people who have taken so many different things, and I'm like, 'I don't even know what that person wants to do,'" he says.
Below are some of the online options available to working professionals who want to sharpen their skills.
Online Degrees
Online degrees require time and money, but in some instances they may be the best way to impress an employer, Thompson says. The good news: At least you can pursue an online degree on your own schedule, while you work.
[Discover these hidden costs of online degrees.]
Thompson suggests employees earn an undergraduate degree before pursuing any other kind of credential. "You need to get a degree, even if it takes forever," he says.
When it comes to earning a master's degree, however, he's on the fence. Before getting a graduate degree, he suggests exploring the benefits of other credentials.
Certification Programs
Administered mostly by universities, certification programs give employees specialized knowledge through a series of courses that may last only a few weeks or months.
Certification programs are growing in the U.S., says Cathy Sandeen, vice president for education attainment and innovation at American Council on Education. They cover a variety of topics, including business management, cybersecurity and data analytics, and typically have graded assessments.
Massive Open Online Courses
Free and open to everyone with an Internet connection, MOOCs give employees the chance to take courses by some of the world's most famous professors with hundreds or thousands of other students. Courses can run from a semester long to just a few weeks.
"I think completing an individual MOOC, depending on what it was, could have some positive benefit toward employment," Sandeen says. "Maybe not as much as a certificate program, but we're going to see more people do that."
[Explore the MOOC controversy.]
Other Online Training Options
Various companies and organizations, such as Lynda.com, Udemy and Codecademy, offer online courses to learners who want to gain specific skills such as web design or coding. The classes are taught by practitioners or others with expertise. Some are free, while others aren't. Unlike MOOCs, they don't follow a traditional academic model.
Employees can also take online classes to earn certifications through professional associations, licensure bodies or companies, such as Microsoft.
Badges
Online badges, also known as digital badges, are micro-credentials awarded for mastering a specific skill set or narrow kind of material. They are awarded by universities or organizations such as Mozilla and can be shared on an online resume or personal website. Badges are clickable, directing employers to a website or portfolio demonstrating what kind of material a learner has mastered.
They may be so new, however, that employers won't know quite what to make of them.
"Badges are really an emerging form and they haven't hit their critical mass yet," says Kyle Bowen, director of education technology at Pennsylvania State University--University Park, which has developed some of the badges.
Thompson, with Adecco, says job seekers shouldn't shy away from highlighting their online credentials in an application, assuming they are relevant for the job.
When he sees online credentials on a resume, he says, "I feel like I am seeing a person that takes their career very seriously and someone who wants to be better and get ahead. And those are the kinds of people we want."
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